Monday, March 15, 2010

Mod Podged Hand trees

Last weeks theme for SYTYC was kids crafts. I was shocked to win again. I thought Kristen had it in the bag, but I guess I made a late come back for the 3 point win. I loved this project. I feel so much joy every time I walk past them.

I have to be honest. I love my kids. I love crafts. But I hate kid's crafts. The thing that I hate about them is that five minutes after they have created something, I want to throw it away. I just don't like the clutter.

I knew I had to come up with something I would treasure instead of trash. My kids and I created these beautiful hand trees.

They are personalized with trunks made from their arm and hand. I really enjoyed spending one on one time with each kid as we put these together.

Mod Podge is the perfect medium for kids crafts. You can't mess it up. Since it dries clear you can't see all the mistakes and spills. My kids kept commenting on how much the loved "painting".

Here is how we made them:

What I used:

-Wood Picture Boards -I got mine at Tai Pan Trading Co., they were damaged and 75% off. You could also use a canvas.

- burlap

-scrap fabric

-scissors

- Mod Podge- I used matte, but I think anything you have is fine.

-Permanent marker - to sign name at the end

These are the boards I used. I needed more surface area so I used the back side as my front.

Some of the Fabrics I used: I liked using a heavier fabric, but anything would work. Make sure you have lots of variety. You want the fabrics to work together while still having as many different colors as possible. You don't want all the fabrics to blend together. I used eight different fabrics.

Step 1: I removed the hanger and stickers from the back of my board. I saved the hanger and placed it on the other side when it was time to hang my pictures.Step 2: I covered the entire board with Mod Podge and layed a piece of burlap, bigger than the board, over the top. Then I used my sharp sewing scissors to cut away the excess burlap till it was straight and flush with the board. If you are using a canvas I would try wrapping the canvas and stapling it to the back instead.Step 3: Cutting the leaves and hands out. I did all the cutting. I didn't trust my kids with my sharp sewing scissors. I was afraid someone would lose a finger. If your kids are older you might want to let them do this part.

I cut three different sizes of leaves for each pattern.

Tracing and cutting the hands before starting with the Mod Podge, make things easier when everything is covered with goo.

Step 4: Glue everything down.

I helped glue the first four leaves down so my kids had an idea of which direction the leaves should go. Then they took over. They painted the Mod Podge onto the backs of the leaves then placed them were they wanted. I reminded them to cover all the empty spots and to use all the different colors.

Step 5: Once all your leaves are on. They plastered the back of the trunk with Mod Podge and placed it on the picture with the hand in the center of the leaves. You might need to trim some of the trunk so that it is flush with the bottom of the board.

Now they can finish it off by painting over the entire tree with the Mod Podge. It dries clear so don't worry if it looks a little messy.

The leaves dry stiff and look cute if they start to come off the board.

Worthy of being hung in a prominent place my kids are more than happy to show off their handy work. Each tree is different just like my kids.

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comments:

I have to do this! I know exactly what you mean by the kids craft to trash thing. I also love things my kids make that I actually want to keep...we decorated our black/silver themed christmas tree with all homemade ornaments that didn't look homemade this year and I loved it! (there is a search box at my blog if interested:)) Glad I found you at Skip To My Lou!

Thank you for your honesty about your kids' crafts! I feel the SAME way and it is a huge guilt relief knowing I am not the only one. That being said, I do love having something to hold onto they childhood with and this is such an awesome idea! And, a GREAT spring break project! Thank you thank you thank you!

Oh my friend this is why I stalk you, You are a girl after my own heart. I joke that I started homeschooling so that My kids crafts were something I wanted to keep. I LOVE these, I have been showing you dino land to all my friends with boys, I am dieing to help make one. Have a great week.

What a fabulous idea!I love it and will definitely be making some trees with my kiddos!

I have to say I just clicked over from 'One Pretty Thing' and have had such a great time reading through your posts!That super mario cake is WAY AWESOME, my little guy would flip over it! (I just may have to steal your idea for his 7th birthday!)And those family plates are too cute. I can't wait to make some of those too!Ahhh.... now I have a bunch more projects added to my too-long-list of things to do :)

Just wanted to encourage you and let you know that your ideas are wonderful!!

love love love love love this!!you are so right about typical kid crafts.... i feel bad about throwing stuff away that comes home from church and there's no way i'm making it more of it!!! so thrilled to try your great idea, perfect for grandparent gifts too :O)

Delightful! I adore kids' art and these are so yummy! ...great job, everyone! I am so glad that I hopped over from Somewhat Simple! Please accept my invitation to drop in at my place one day this week when get a chance. until later...

Hi Kalleen, Check out this link where I featured this post: http://kosmicchai.blogspot.com/2010/03/feature-istic-friday-1.htmlDo email me the links of your latest crafts if you'd like me to feature them for you for the event 'Feature-istic Friday'!Thanks!!

I was sharing your cake fondant with a friend when I browsed your other ideas and about had a heart attack! I think EVERY SINGLE PROJECT you have made is now on my TO DO LIST! Thank you, and be prepared to be linked up to our small craft blog; you are an inspiration!

Just found your blog and I think that has to be my all time favorite kids project! I may have to try this one myself..I love that the kids can help create such a beautiful piece of art that would great in a kids room, family room, hallway, etc.. Thanks so much for the inspiration!

I love this craft. It is so cool, in fact, that this childless woman is going to do this for her house....You might enjoy doing this craft with your kids. It is really simple (scrap piece of plywood and leftover paint) and turns out very modern:http://www.potholesandpantyhose.com/A/Arts_%26_Crap_Archives/Entries/2010/4/11_Scrappy_Plywood_Art.html

This is such a cute craft! We live far away from home, and I'm always looking for cute ways to send thoughtful gifts home to family... This would be perfect with our boys hands for Mother's Day gifts! The grandmothers would LOVE it!

I think I am going to do them for Mother's Day for my mom and for me!!! I also that that it would be cute to have cute flower blossoms on the tree for my daughters to bring in some pink! You could also do apples or something also..since my mom's kitchen is apples I am going to put some on the boys trees. Thanks for the idea!!! I have one of those mom's that if she doesn't have it she can buy it so it's hard to come up with ideas for gifts for her. This really hit the spot!!!

Loved this so much that I went out and bought the materials the very next day :) My 3 year old son and I made one for my Mom for Mother's Day and she loved it! And we plan on making one more for me in our home, as well as one to send to his other Grandma (she is from Nicaragua, and her Mother's day is on May 30, so we have more time hehehe).

I am so glad I found your blog again! Last week we made the mod podge tree for my husband for fathers day. When I went to blog about I couldnt remember where I saw the idea and just gave credit to "someone out there." Then thankfully someone reading my blog sent me your link. So I added your button to my blog, hope you don't mind. Just let me know if you do. I just like to give credit where credit is due! Love your blog by the way, cute kids!

We did this craft yesterday with our Sunday School for Father's Day. Our kids LOVED it! It also tied in great with our family of god/family tree lesson. Our kids were so creative with it too, I wish I had photos to share with you -- some put their hands upside down so the roots were their fingers, others saved some leaves to scrunch up at the end to put ontop of their hands to make it seem more 3d, and still others did it sideways and had the leaves all going in one direction like they were blowing in the wind! It went over so well, I just had to say a big THANK YOU for the great idea!

I loved this idea so much that I made them using my boys and they are hanging in my living room right now! I posted them and credited you in the post. THanks again for the brilliant project tutorial! http://mommybreathblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/crafty-as-promised.html

Kalleen, We are big kids (in college) and we decided to do a spin-off of this project as a decoration for our apartment. We haven't posted the step-by-step yet, but come over to our newly formed blog @ decorroomies.blogspot.com to see what we came up with. Thanks for the inspiration, we love our new pieces of art! -Allison and Chelsea @ Decor Roomies

I absolutely love these! I made my own but cheated and used scrapbook paper and a cricut! I admire you for cutting all those leaves out!Thanks for the inspiration. I get the most comments about the trees than anything else in my house!

I linked to your post so they could get all the details!http://ahomeforabunny.blogspot.com/2011/01/our-grove-hand-trees.html

I absolutely LOVE this idea, yours are so beautiful! We did a simple paper version today which I posted about here http://veritabletreasure.blogspot.com/2011/04/seventh-day-of-ridvan-2011.html My son is 2 and a half so in a few years I plan to do your project again closer to your original idea! Thanks!

Thank you so much for posting this. I have had this saved on my delicious.com site and now it is on my pinterest sit as well. I posted pics on my blog of how mine turned out. Very cute idea!! It may turn into a tradition to see how much the kids hands grow over the years!